Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Maria V. Snyder has been one of my favorite high fantasy authors for about 3 years now. I love how she can create a whole new, believable, world and still make an interesting plot line and romance.

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Territories, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life....

In her new series, Healer, Maria V. Snyder follows a young healer who is on the run. In her land, disease is slowly destroying everything, yet her people distrust magic and refuse to accept that magic could heal the world.

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Since It's Winter Break, I took my annual WB gander through my library to find all sorts of books to read over break. I always spend most of my time in the New Shelf of the Teen Section; it has a good number of YA books released in the past year. When I saw the title The False Princess, it intrigued me, I thought; that is new, never in my many years (7, to be exact) of reading YA books, have I been so dragged in by a title. I imediately added it to my pile. (Which would be expanded to 9 books by the end of my trip.) At the time of this particular trip, I had been reading the amazingly attention-grabbing Clockwork Angel, so I finished that and immediatly started reading this. It took me less than a day to finish it; partly because it was only 323 pages, but more importantly; it was AMAZING!!!

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia's led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when it's revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she's ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins - long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control - she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history, forever.

A dazzling first novel, The False Princess is an engrossing fantasy full of mystery, action, and romance.

Doesn't it sound amazing? With passionate love of friendship, her country, and her past, Sinda is attempting to reconstruct a plot to set a 'False Princess' on the throne; someone other than her, that is.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

That ending was crap. I hated it. It came out of nowhere! Now I need the next book. Ugh.

Lena is just your average girl. Living in a society where love is a disease. Love! A disease! They say that without love there is no hate and without hate there is no violence. But what happens when you fall in love? That is what Lena is about to find out.

They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever.

And I've always believed them.

Until now.

Now everything has changed.

Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

Honestly, I finished this book in about 2 days. Which isn't normal for me. It usually takes about a week and a half to finish a book of this size. But I read the first 5 chapters in a preview and I was hooked from that point on.

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

I thought the series was amazing during the first two books. This one blew. Me. Away. I swear, I was in shock after reading this. Again, I highly recomend this book to anyone who reads Paranormal romance, fae books or low fantasy. It's just that awesome.

Here's the summary:

The "New York Times" Bestseller The Iron Queen

My name is Meghan Chase.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.

This time, there will be no turning back.